2.76 Colorado Rockies - Chad Bettis, RHP, Texas Tech

The Rockies spent the 76th overall pick on Chad Bettis.

Follow the jump for his pre-draft profile.

Chad Bettis   Position: RHP   School: Texas Tech   State: TX   Year: Jr.   Height: 6’1’’   Weight: 210

Birth Date: 4/26/89   Seiler Rating: 1B2   Last Drafted: 2007 (HOU-8)

Chad Bettis has now gone from rotation arm to bullpen arm, back to rotation arm again and finally to a flex role as long reliever and Sunday starter if he hasn’t been used in the weekend to date. Now we must answer what his long-term role is. Bettis is a West Texas product, and if you’ve ever seen Friday Night Lights, you know baseball isn’t exactly the focal point of sporting in that area of the state. However, he turned plenty of heads as an amateur, and he ended up not signing as an eighth round pick of the Astros in 2007. He received some hype before arriving at Texas Tech, but he was pretty bad as a starter during his freshman year, and it wasn’t until he started pitching in relief that he encountered some success. He boosted his draft stock while closing for Team USA last summer, flashing plus stuff worthy of first round consideration. His fastball is a mid- to upper-90s offering in relief with good life and deception. It’s a plus-plus pitch, a true 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale, though it goes down to a 60 as a starter because then he works in the 92-94 range. He complements the fastball with an above-average slider that could firm up into another plus offering. He hasn’t worked much with a changeup, and his arsenal may indeed lend itself better to a relief role in pro ball. Bettis is an elite arm as either a starter or reliever, but with his lack of a third reliable pitch and his success out of the bullpen, he’s expected to relieve in the pros. He’s expected go anywhere from the late first round into the early second round, and he’ll likely sign for slot money.